Draft:Victor Kalin

Victor Kalin (January 19, 1919 ‒ November, 24, 1991), was an American illustrator and fine artist who is known for illustrations for major magazines in the late 1940's and 1950's, paperback book covers in the 1950 and 1960s, and LP record covers in the 1960s and 1970s. Among his many illustrations, paintings and drawings of jazz musicians are the well-known album gate-fold portrait of John Coltrane in the Impulse LP A Love Supreme and the cover art of Charles Mingus in Mingus Plays Piano. Many of his portraits of musicians were derived from photographs he took at festivals - e.g., the Newport festivals of the late 50s and early 60s. The original Coltrane photo and image are discussed and shown in the book by Ashley Kahn, A Love Supreme; The Story of John Coltrane's Signature Album.

His paperback book illustrations and "noir" themed covers are recognized for their originality and dramatic composition. "Walt Reed (Illustrator in America) said of Victor: '[Kalin’s] first illustrations were done for The American Weekly but for many years the majority of his pictures were painted for paperback book covers. Unlike many artists who develop a strong, easily identifiable technique, he was so interested in experimentation that his work looked continually new.'" Kalin was prolific. In 1961 the paperback book industry was paying an average of $350 per cover to illustrators, though some "eminent illustrators in the one-to-three-thousand-dollar per picture bracket often do covers at the prevailing prices during slow periods, some using pseudonyms to obviate loss of prestige. One artist who has been signally successful in the field is Victor B. Kalin (not a psuedonym). Kalin has no agent and pays no commissions, for he deals directly with the publishers' art departments and is well known to them all. He can comfortably paint two covers per week, and has produced hundreds." He described his process of producing cover illustrations for mystery novels as follows, "I like to take the clues in the story and include them in a way that is not too obvious and won't give the story away.... Cover assignments almost invariably start with a manuscript or a typed synopsis. I prefer to have the whole manuscript to read. Not necessarily because the stories are well written - often they are not - but I like to get the flavor and style of the author and try to match it with the picture."

Early life and education: Victor Kalin, also known as "Vic", was born in Belleville, Kansas in 1919. He began drawing and painting as a small boy. In high school, he won a national Hallmark Student Card Contest, and in 1941 achieved national recognition by winning the National Ziegfield Girl Contest sponsored by the Art Students League of New York, which drew more than 1000 paintings by artists from around the country. Taking time off from his graduate studies he toured as a trumpet player with a band led by Jimmy Caton, a musician from South Dakota. He attended the University of Kansas where after graduating in 1941 he taught for a year, leaving with an MFA in 1942 to join the war effort.

Service in WW2: During World War 2, he served as an artist correspondent for Yank Magazine in the Azores. It was while there that he met his wife, Catherine (Kate) Bryan.

Community pursuits: He served on the Board of the Norwalk Symphony and was active in the Fairfield Watercolor Group and the Silvermine Guild. He was also a member of the Back Porch Brown Bag Dirty Talk Society, a group of art-loving friends who, for 30 years, met regularly to listen to music and share stories. He died in November 1991.